Five Hours
by Athenaktt
Summary: COMPLETED! SheppardWeir. This fic takes place during the five hours that Elizabeth was out in The Real World. This is John's perspective during those five hours. Spoilers: The Real World.


_**Author's Notes:**__ Since this takes place during the episode, there are some dialogue and scenes taken from the transcript, but I limited most of the dialogue and scenes to short paragraphs since it would be redundant for those who have seen the episode. And Thanks to my Beta LurkerLa and several others for being patient and waiting almost a year for me to finish this short little fic. _

_**Spoilers:**__ "The Real World"_

**Hour One**

The Jumper Bay was quiet as John Sheppard settled into the pilot seat. It had been several hours since their successful escape and destruction of the Asuran ship. Several hours since Niam was expelled into the blackness of space. Several hours since Elizabeth was almost lost to him.

There was a tightness in his chest as he replayed the scene in his head. Seeing Niam with a death grip around Elizabeth's throat had evoked a sense of terror in him, and it was that terror that made him throw his body against Naim to save Elizabeth, while the others struggled with Niam to no avail.

He let out a deep breath and glanced over at the seat Elizabeth had occupied earlier. He remembered seeing her in shock and out of breath, but alive. Even though she had given him a look to assure him she was all right, he still worried. After Carson had released her from the infirmary, he immediately left Rodney and Radek to join Elizabeth at their usual spot, the balcony.

The evening was nice and breezy as if nothing significant had happened that day, but he looked over at Elizabeth, who just looked out into the dark night. He did not know what was going through her mind, but he could tell she was shaken up no matter how much she tried to hide it. But she was alive and that was all that mattered to him.

John flipped his wrist over to glance at his watch and saw that it was still a bit early for lunch and too late for breakfast, but it was the perfect time for brunch. As he made his way downstairs into the control room, he began to arm himself with responses to any excuses Elizabeth might toss him this time.

Chuck nodded at him when he reached the bottom of the stairs.

"She's in her office," the technician said.

"Thanks." John frowned. Was he that transparent? He shrugged and headed towards the bridge connecting to Elizabeth's office. He figured it was a lucky guess on Chuck's part. Why else would he come into the control room other than to speak with Elizabeth? _Everyone_ came to the control room to see Elizabeth. This is where she spent most of her time, even when she was off the clock.

Across the bridge he saw Elizabeth in her usual position, sitting behind her desk working on her laptop.

"Elizabeth," he said, sauntering into her office, "quit playing Solitaire, and let's grab some brunch."

Instead of narrowing her eyes or raising an eyebrow at his comment her face was blank. The lack of expression was disconcerting to him.

"Elizabeth? Are you all right?" He moved to stand next to her.

She finally nodded and shook her head before squeezing her eyes shut as if just coming out of a trance. She then brought her hands up to rub her temples.

"I think I need some fresh air," she said.

"I'm inclined to agree." John took a step back to give her room to scoot back her chair. "Are you sure you're all right? Maybe we should head to the infirmary," he said when she stood up.

She closed her eyes and shook her head again.

"I—," she began, "my head… It feels a little fuzzy. Maybe…" Before she finished her sentence, her eyes rolled back into her head and she started falling.

John's hands shot out instantly and pulled her falling body towards him. Leaning her body against his, he gently shook her to wake. He prayed that Elizabeth had just fainted from fatigue, but she was pale and unresponsive, her body like dead weight. He quickly banished the morbid thought and scooped her up in his arms and hurried to the infirmary.

* * *

Carson sat at his table looking over the charts of a recent patient when he heard rushed heavy footsteps enter the infirmary. He turned to see John enter with Elizabeth in his arms.

"Oh dear," he mumbled to himself and walked over to the bed John laid her on. "What happened?" he asked as he started to check Elizabeth's pulse.

"I don't know. She said she was feeling about weird and 'fuzzy.' Then she stood up to get some air. The next thing I know she's in my arms… and not in a good way."

"When I checked her yesterday, she was fine." Carson proceeded to check her eyes for any responses.

"She's obviously not fine now!"

"I know that, John," the doctor said calmly. "Now let's get her under a scanner, so I can start figuring out what's wrong."

"I'm sorry, doc," John apologized. "I didn't mean to snap at you. It's just that— She was fine last night."

"It's all right. We'll figure out what is wrong with Elizabeth."

John nodded and reluctantly stepped back for Carson and his medical team to do their job. He watched Elizabeth's sleeping form, looking peaceful even in the midst of all the doctors fussing around her. He closed his eyes and prayed, hoping that she would be all right.

* * *

**Hour Two**

"What the hell is that?" John asked looking over Carson's shoulder at the computer screen that revealed speckles of red dots sprinkled inside the scan of Elizabeth's brain.

"I'm not quite certain, but they look eerily familiar," the Scotsman knitted his brows together.

"'Eerily?' I don't like the word especially when you're describing things floating in Elizabeth's brain."

"Aye," Carson agreed. "At least her EEGs show brain activity. Indicating she's alive."

John winced at the mention of Elizabeth being "alive". He refused to think of Elizabeth as anything _but_ alive.

"Is it a virus?" he asked.

Carson sighed. "I don't know what is worse a virus or this." He enlarged an image on the laptop and a familiar image appeared.

"Is that a—"

"Nanite," Carson finished.

"My second least favorite thing," John grumbled. "What are they doing to her?"

"I don't know, but we need to put her in quarantine now!"

Carson quickly moved about the infirmary calling all available doctors and nurses to help set up quarantine around Elizabeth, while John stood by watching as the chaos surrounded Elizabeth once again.

He tried to remember all the information he knew about the nanites, but all he could think of was the "Hot Zone" incident they encountered two years ago. Those nanites targeted the victim's brain as well, killing them in just mere hours. From the scan of Elizabeth's brain, there were probably hundreds or thousands of nanites. In the Hot Zone incident, Rodney and the others had phantom visions, but here… Here, he did not know _what_ was happening.

"Colonel?"

John forced himself out of his own thoughts and looked into Carson's worried blue eyes.

"John?" Carson called to him again. "You need to be checked for any nanites in your system. If these nanites are anything like the ones we encountered two years ago. We can all be infected by instant contact."

He nodded and understood the urgency in the doctor's voice, but at the moment he didn't care if he might be infected with the nanites. He was worried about how much time Elizabeth had left.

"Colonel?"

Before he reluctantly followed Carson out, he glanced over at Elizabeth one more time just to make sure she was still lying there.

* * *

**Hour Three**

After being cleared as nanite-free, John immediately headed back into the room Elizabeth was located. A quarantine tent was raised around her bed and the only noise in the room was the stable beeps and hums of machines. He felt helpless standing there watching as the green grid lights of the scanner glided over her body over and over again. Carson was inside the tent wearing a Hazmat suit, as he tried to draw more blood samples from Elizabeth to conduct more tests.

John's eyes pulled away from Elizabeth and drifted over the monitor that displayed her vitals. The nanites were still mainly grouped in her brain. He closed his eyes and took in a deep breath and slowly exhaled. The sudden increase of oxygen made him feel light-headed, making the sight of Elizabeth lying unconscious still seem surreal.

The sound of familiar footsteps drew near and stopped next to him.

"How is she?" Rodney asked.

"I don't know," he replied, returning his gaze towards the quarantine tent. "It's been over two hours since I brought her in, and Beckett is still trying to figure out what's happening."

"I'm sorry."

John turned to look at Rodney. "For what?"

"I- I don't know," Rodney stuttered. "It just felt like the thing to say… I tried to get here as soon as I heard, but Carson placed a temporary quarantine on the infirmary while you guys were getting checked out for—"

"Thanks Rodney."

"You're welcome," Rodney said suddenly feeling awkward. Both men returned their attention towards Elizabeth. "I guess it's a good thing you're always lurking around Elizabeth's office."

John furrowed his eyebrows. "I do not lurk around Elizabeth's office. I'll have you know I was in the Jumper Bay checking out damages in the Jumper."

"Oh really?" Rodney crossed his arms over his chest. "So did you use your psychic communication with Elizabeth to find out she was in trouble?"

"No." John narrowed his eyes and made a face at Rodney. "I was hungry and came down to ask Elizabeth if she wanted to get some brunch. Then I noticed she looked pale and next thing I know she collapsed into my arms." He looked down at his hands and sighed.

"Beckett will figure something out," Rodney assured him, and walked towards the monitor that displayed Elizabeth's vitals. "The nanites seem to only be grouped in her brain. Why?"

"Why what?"

"Why only her brain?" Rodney clarified and rolled his eyes.

"Do you think that these nanites are the same ones you had in you the first year we were here?" John asked.

Rodney placed a hand under his chin and continued observing the red dots on screen. "What makes you say that?"

"Those nanites moved up to your brain and made you see things," John said.

"Yeah, then they gave you an aneurism," Rodney added. "No, this isn't the same. If Elizabeth saw anything, I'm sure she would let Carson know. Also the nanites I had didn't bother to put us into a coma before turning our brains into mush. So it's safe to say that these aren't the same nanites."

"I don't know whether to be relieved or more worried about that news."

"From her EEG readings, there's brain activity," Rodney pointed pulsing lines on the monitor. "Looking at these readings, she's having one hell of a dream."

"Or nightmare," John added.

* * *

**.Hour Four**

"What do you got, doc?" John asked, standing as close as he could to Elizabeth's quarantine tent, while Carson and Rodney stood a short distance away checking her scans.

"It's getting worse. It's not just her brain anymore. It's spreading throughout her body. We're losing her."

John did not like what Carson was telling him, and he continued to pray that Carson was wrong about this. He continued to watch Elizabeth as Teyla and Ronon entered the room to check on Elizabeth's status. He listened to them wonder about how the nanites entered Elizabeth's body. When Rodney brought up Niam, John felt a growing hatred for the Asurans, and he felt a bit guilty for not getting Niam off Elizabeth earlier. Then when Rodney uttered the words "consuming her," his anger turned into dread.

"How much time does she have?" he asked.

"I don't think their intent is to kill her," Carson said. "If that were the case, they could have easily done that already. I don't think there are enough of them to survive on their own. They need Elizabeth's body as raw material."

After listening to Rodney and Carson's theory of the nanites' ultimate goal of using Elizabeth's body to replicate, John knew they needed work faster. He suggested they use an EMP to disable the nanties, but after Carson's assessment that an EMP would also kill Elizabeth, that option was out. All he could do right now was to watch Carson inject more drugs into Elizabeth's system and hope she could fight off the nanites before they overwhelmed her unconscious body.

He stood there watching the scanner pass over Elizabeth's body for the Nth time as Carson and Rodney returned to work on another theory, and Ronon and Teyla exited for some reason he didn't recall since he was too engrossed with figuring out a way to save Elizabeth. He felt even more helpless as he watched her lying in quarantine alone. He wanted to do something even if it was to hold her hand or speak to her. Then he remembered hearing reports of coma patients being able to hear ongoing things around them.

"You think she's aware that we're here?" he asked.

Rodney made a face and gave an expected negative response, while Carson confirmed that hearing is one of the last senses to go and the first to return. This information gave John a little hope. Even though he could not physically be in the quarantine tent with her, being able to "talk" to her made him feel a little less helpless. Since Carson and Rodney were still in the room, John decided to wait until he was alone with Elizabeth to "talk."

"Aggressive little bastards," he muttered.

Before he could think about what he would say to Elizabeth, Rodney and Carson exchanged a few words about a brilliant new plan to save Elizabeth and were suddenly out of the room leaving him alone with her earlier than he expected. He glanced over at the door to make sure Rodney and Carson were gone before he tried to help Elizabeth the only way he could.

"You know... If Carson is right and you can hear me, I suppose I should say something profound," he paused. He hadn't had a chance to think of anything profound to say or anything he felt that was appropriate to say in this situation, so honesty would have to do. He was sure Elizabeth would forgive him. "Okay, I'm not so good at profound. But you should know we're doing everything we can to get you through this.

"These— These nanites, I don't know what they're putting you through. I don't know what they are doing to you, but… don't let them get to you. We're doing everything we can to bring you back, but you've got to do your part. You gotta fight this."

He looked back at the entrance to the room and saw no one enter. It appeared that Rodney and Carson would be spending a while testing out their new theory. Since he was not planning to leave Elizabeth's side any time soon, he figured he'd keep her up-to-date on their progress while they waited.

"I think Carson and Rodney just had another brilliant idea. They didn't bother to tell me what the plan was. Not that it would matter. I don't understand what those guys are saying half of the time. Beckett says that the immune system boosting drugs aren't having an effect on the nanites, but he says that your mind is 'active' like you are living your daily life."

He paused for a moment waiting for something to happen. Nothing changed.

"Elizabeth, what the hell are they doing to you?" he asked with a soft voice. "Elizabeth? Fight this and come back to us. Come back… to me."

* * *

**Hour Five**

"How is she?" Teyla asked John as she and Ronon reentered the infirmary.

John sighed and shook his head.

"No change, huh?" Ronon said.

The three of them turned to see Rodney and Carson walking briskly back into the room, with Rodney, enthusiastically holding a container with a biohazard symbol in his hand, claiming they have found a way to uncouple the nanites from Elizabeth's cells by implanting a small tumor of Wraith cells into her body, which would allow them several seconds to disable the nanites with the EM pulse.

Not wanting to waste time John suggested they try this plan as soon as possible. Preparations were quickly made and the experiment was ready to begin. Carson implanted the Wraith tissue into Elizabeth's right leg and the red nanites dots on the scanner all quickly gravitated towards her leg. After waiting a few moments, Carson signaled for Rodney to turn the EM pulse. The monitors flickered off and back on. The red speckles in Elizabeth's body were gone. Before John could let out a breath of relief, Carson revealed the scan of Elizabeth's brain where several nanites were still alive, and beginning to replicate again. Elizabeth was running out of time.

Teyla was right. This was a "Battle of Wills." The only way John knew how to help her was to let her know she wasn't alone and she needed to fight this!

"You're not alone, Elizabeth," he said stepping up next to the quarantine tent. "We're right here with you. You have to fight this! This way… Follow my voice. We're waiting for you."

"They've begun to spread faster!" Carson said looking at the scanner. "We're losing her."

"Not yet, we're not." Without thinking of his own welfare, John headed towards the quarantine tent and unzipped the entrance, breaking quarantine, and took Elizabeth's hand into his and firmly resting another hand on her arm. He kept his eyes on her face and felt a felt a strange connection with her. He could see her in his mind looking at him, confused.

"Elizabeth?"

"John?"

"You've been infected by nanites. They're trying to take control of your mind and body. Don't let them do it. You have to fight it. So fight!"

In his mind's eye, Elizabeth still looked confused as she searched for an escape.

"You know which way you have to go. Run."

The last thing he saw was Elizabeth running towards him before he lost contact with her as two men in Hazmat suits pulled him away from her and out of the tent. He wanted to be by her side when she woke, but since he broke quarantine, he knew he would be sitting in his own little tent for the next couple of hours. At least the short connection he shared with Elizabeth assured him that she was still fighting, and she was running back towards them. Towards him.

* * *

**Epilogue**

"How much longer do I have to stay in here, doc?" John asked sitting on the edge of one of the infirmary beds. "Being in isolation is pretty boring."

"Well, you should have thought about that before breaking quarantine," the Scotsman chided as he scanned the information on the tablet in his arms.

"I had to do _something_. I couldn't just stand there and watch her… How is she?"

"She is awake. All her vitals are stabilized and the nanites are being destroyed by her immune system. She should be nanite free in no time."

"That's good."

"Colonel, you did a brave, but _very_ stupid, thing today."

"I know."

"So quit whining. It isn't going to make your isolation any shorter, but so far you're lucky, your scans have come back clean."

"I guess those nanites were to busy working on Elizabeth to come after me."

"Fortunately," Carson nodded. "Whatever you did, Colonel, it helped bring Elizabeth back. Thank you."

John shook his head and tried to wave away Carson's comment. "I would have done it for any one of you."

"Perhaps, but as soon as we pulled you out of the tent, Elizabeth regained consciousness and said 'I'm back at Atlantis.' Wherever she was, it wasn't here, but you were able to help her come back."

"To be honest, I had no idea what I was doing, Carson. I just hoped that I got through to her before the nanites did..."

"And you did," Carson assured him. "You know, she asked for you."

"Yeah? What did she say?" He could not resist a smirk.

"When I told her you were in quarantine, she only smiled like she had expected it."

"I don't know if that is a good or bad thing." He knitted his brows.

"I think in this case it's a good thing. Now enjoy the rest of our isolation. I need to go and check up on Elizabeth once more before releasing her."

"So how much longer do I have to be in here?"

"As long as it takes, Colonel, as long as it takes."

John scowled as he watched Carson leave; he hated when people gave him vague answers. He lay back down on to the bed and looked up at the ceiling. Being in isolation was horribly boring. He wondered if this was what Elizabeth went through. Maybe Carson wasn't Carson and the nanites had taken over his brain making him _think_ he was in isolation to prevent him from fighting back against them. He quickly banished the paranoid thought because Elizabeth was alive and that was all that mattered to him right now. As soon as he was freed from quarantine, the first thing he planned to do was find Elizabeth. If he could find Elizabeth and find her alive and well, he would be sure he was in the "real world" because if the nanites wanted to make his life hell, all they had to do was make Elizabeth and Atlantis disappear.

---**Finis---**


End file.
